Wild West still alive for illegal salmon netters in Ireland

Well over €30m was paid to commercial salmon fishermen not to fish from 2007 onwards. Yet, many took the money and continued using so called decommissioned nets which is part of the reason salmon and sea trout numbers are still declining. These breaches of the act are not small hit and run operations. Many nets shot are so long and left out so long that they are dangerous to other boat users. Yet nothing is done about it. Occasionally, something gives and an odd one is charged and sometimes it comes up in court like this one in Kerry. Not Donegal or mayo or Galway.

Below is the text from the Dingle Peninsula Fishing page

So a fisherman gets €150,000 to stop netting for salmon, he then goes and gets charged for netting salmon with a net of 750 yards long off sauce Creek at Brandon Point, while being paid compensation of €150,000 to not do it, he then turns up in court with 1 thousand euro! Like does anybody else think that not only are they completely taking the piss out of the government but are also destroying the whole area of fish life..

Salmon caught in these nets would be making there way up all the small spate rivers all the Dingle Peninsula, they would be spawning in the lochs and streams way up in the valleys and mountains. After travelling thousands of miles down the North Atlantic onto the west coast of Ireland, instead they getting caught in these greedy so called fisherman’s nets and being sold to all the restaurants in the area….

Tourists will then flock to the area and eat seafood chowder and salmon dinners not knowing the untold damage they are doing to the local rivers…

The sickening fact is that we the public are paying these guys compensation to not net while to head out every morning and evening from Brandon pier.. You can see them yourself every day with the fiberglass boats and outboard engines. Another thing that sickens me is the so called environmentalists will pull up with there boats all summer long and see these nets and not say a word…

It will be interesting to see what will be done to thus so called fisherman come later in the year…